In the final days of the presidential campaign, Kamala Harris is casting Donald Trump as a “petty tyrant,” out for “unchecked power.”
She’s ratcheting up the fear campaign but getting no help from stumblebum Joe Biden, whose remarks that sounded like he was calling Trump supporters “garbage” might just be the 11th-hour blunder Mr. Trump needs to turn momentum his way.
Mr. Trump had played to Ms. Harris’s beat with the firehose of sewage he had on display at his racism-tinged rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.
Trump defenders say the Democrats’ fear campaign is overblown. There was all that scary talk before he came to power the first time in 2016, they note, but his bark turned out to be worse than his bite.
To a degree they may be correct. But in Mr. Trump’s first four years, there were people in place who could rein him in. There were checks and balances in the system doing the same.
If he wins a second term, the institutional restraints won’t be there. He’ll have carte blanche in many respects to do as he wishes, including making good on his plan to greatly increase presidential control over the running of the system.
With barriers removed, with the judiciary in his corner, with media cowed, and with the authoritarian-styled changes he has in mind, Donald Trump could be on the verge of becoming the most powerful president ever, with authority tantamount to that of an autocrat.
First, of course, he has to win the presidency, and he also needs his Republicans to gain control of the Senate (which seems likely) and hold a majority in the House of Representatives (which presents a tougher challenge).
Having the legislative branch on board isn’t unusual for presidents. It’s in other jurisdictions, starting with the judicial branch, that Mr. Trump will enjoy extraordinary advantages other presidents did not.
The Supreme Court doesn’t just have one of the strongest conservative majorities ever assembled – it is also a court that ruled in July that Mr. Trump is entitled to substantial immunity from prosecution for any official actions. As legal experts agreed, the decision constitutes a major expansion of executive power and could embolden Mr. Trump to be even more reckless than customary.
If not checked by Congress or the courts, presidents typically have the media to thwart them. But Mr. Trump has made, and is making, big inroads in discrediting the fourth estate. He has the Fox network as his shameless mouthpiece, and in a new term he will have the big social media platform once known as Twitter (and is now X) in his corner. Owner Elon Musk has turned it into a pro-Trump shout factory.
To further bring the media to heel, Mr. Trump has vowed to strip major TV networks of their broadcast licenses for being too negative toward him, though it may be just an intimidation tactic.
Other media show signs of being intimidated. The liberal Washington Post decided last week to decline endorsing a presidential candidate this time around, touching off a controversy that reportedly cost the paper more than 200,000 subscribers. The paper’s owner, Amazon founder and majority stakeholder Jeff Bezos, was suspected of kowtowing to Mr. Trump, who as president could make decisions costing the company billions.
Other power-mongering plans Mr. Trump has for when back in the White House include ending the independence of the Justice Department as retribution for having brought charges against him; bringing independent regulatory agencies like the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission under presidential control; reinstating the presidential power of impounding funds appropriated by Congress if he opposes the recommended measures; and removing public-service employment protections so that he can fire any bureaucrats in what he considers the ”deep state” that he wishes.
In his first four years, Mr. Trump had pockets of resistance in his own party. He now has his daughter-in-law Lara Trump serving as co-chair of the Republican National Committee. In a new administration, he will be surrounded by knee-bending loyalists.
Having made all kinds of threats to run roughshod over the system and go after his political enemies, Mr. Trump will see an election triumph as a mandate to proceed as planned.
A recent New York Times/Siena poll showed that 58 per cent of Americans believe that the country’s major financial and political systems need substantial changes or a complete overhaul.
Republican Liz Cheney, who is voting for Kamala Harris, says that what’s on the ballot Tuesday is the unravelling of American democracy.
She’s right. A Trump victory would be more than a win. It would be a takeover.